Whirlwind
by Araesson's Storm
Summary: Prussia might have failed the most recent BTT mission, but he's got more pressing problems to worry about. Like the fact that he had just kidnapped a little girl. This wasn't even the right girl! And now, Romano was acting really weird... he was actually being almost nice. Send reinforcements immediately! Also, who was going to explain the almost-burned-down kitchen to West?
1. Chapter 1: Prussia

**First off, Whirlwind is a collaboration between me and Arlewena. This has been a story the pair have us have been toying with for some time, and we decided we should probably share it. Whirlwind features a fem!Harry.**

 **We do not own Hetalia or Harry Potter.**

* * *

 **Prussia**

The ex-nation of Prussia was in the midst of a vitally important scouting mission. The mission was a classified matter of great import; in fact, only two other beings knew of its existence.

This secret matter drove him to wander through the lands of England, wearing a hoodie to hide the shade of his hair from any who weren't looking for it. There was nothing to be done about his eyes, eyes that shifted from blood red to a sapphire blue depending upon lighting and his mood, though they tended to stick primarily to red. He was generally one to flaunt his unusual appearance, but certain matters required that he not draw too much attention to himself. He would prefer that England not hear of his presence quite yet, or the entire project could be compromised.

The former nation more commonly referred to as Gilbert these days sighed and looked up at the dreary sky. He'd been wandering the rainy little island country for hours, searching any and all spots that had the feel of magic for news of his quarry. So far he'd had no luck. The young Irena Potter, so called 'girl-who-lived', could not be found. No one seemed to know of her whereabouts, only that she was safe and to rejoin the society when she attended school in six more years.

It was ridiculous! The girl was supposed to be one of the most famous figures in that weirdo England's magical society, yet no one seemed to have any true idea of where she was. It was said that the girl would be with one of the rich, prominent magical families who could keep her safe, but there was no word of any such family taking in a little girl. He should have been able to find at least one crazy stalker fan who had a better idea of things, but there had been none. The entire thing bothered Gilbert. Of course he was glad that people seemed to be allowing this poor little girl her own private life, but with how famous she was the idea of this much privacy should be laughable.

Gilbert was beginning to think the BTT would have to think up a solution, or they'd have to admit defeat. England must have taken measures to keep the girl safe. Paranoid jerk. Then again, she would have many enemies, given how she'd become so famous. Such measures had probably saved her life.

It sucked when safety got in the way of his having fun. It's not like they would have hurt the girl, or even kept her long! They'd just planned on taking her for a day or two, then returning her home soon enough once they'd had their fun messing with England.

He realized his feet had led him down a suburban street lined with perfectly tended houses that were so devoid of personality Gilbert was surprised he didn't immediately wither away and die from the lack of awesomeness surrounding him. The day had turned to evening during his wanderings. A few of the neighborhood's inhabitants were outside, all of which immediately gave him suspicious glances.

Gilbert was perfectly willing to ignore all of the sad little ants who lived on the street until he heard the screams as he passed by Number Four. One of the front windows was open, a sudden breeze blowing aside the curtain and allowing him to see a glimpse of the scene from inside.

A huge, walrus of a man had taken a little girl, only a toddler, by the neck and was shaking her around in the air. The little thing wasn't making a sound, remaining limp. She might as well have been dead as the man raged at her. Gilbert didn't know what exactly had happened, but just looking at the little girl was enough to make his blood boil. Her clothes were huge on her, in poor condition. Considering the shining car parked in the front, this was not the result of poverty. What skin he could see was marred with bruising. She was all skin and bones, clearly half-starved even at this distance. There was undoubtedly more he could not see.

As the red-faced walrus man flung the girl out the open window, Gilbert was there to catch her in his arms. Cradling the girl to his chest, he threw back his hood and glared at the man who was gaping at him. Behind him, Gilbert could see a woman holding another child, this one overweight and in much better condition than the one in his arms.

Gilbert and the man stared at one another for some time, until Gilbert smirked, predatory and full of all the darkness that lay inside any nation. The man staggered back, throwing his arms out as if to protect the woman and child behind him as he cried, "D-demon!"

"That's me." Gilbert chuckled, low and dark, "I'll be seeing you again. Real soon." With that he turned on his heel and stalked away.

His anger quickly burned out as he made his way down the road. Prussia peeked down at the child in his arms, noticing the tears on her cheeks and how she was shaking. He didn't know if it was from fear, pain, or maybe just the chill.

It didn't take him long to realize he'd just kidnapped a child. What should he do? He couldn't just take her home, especially not since they were in an entirely different country. He didn't even consider returning her, not to that horrid man.

He looked down to the little girl, and said, "Even though most people would consider this a kidnapping, I won't take you where you don't want to go. Where shall the awesome Gilbert Express take you? The police? An orphanage? Child services? Or do you have family that isn't the scum of the earth?" He paused, and added as an afterthought, "I guess you could stay with me, if you wanted." To his surprise, the girl looked up with striking wide green eyes and threw her arms about his neck. Gilbert faltered a moment, before he chuckled.

"I'll take that as your answer, then. It's going to be a bit of a trip, I live all the way in Berlin, in Germany, with my little brother, West. He's a bit stiff, but he's still got some awesomeness to him, thanks to my awesome older brother skills. We blame that silly Austria for his stiffness." He had started prattling at this point, but his words seemed to calm her shakes. "We may have to use less than legal methods to get us out of the country, but I don't think West will mind if I use my allowance to fund it. It's for a good cause, so he should be okay with it even if he is a bit of a stickler for rules… you know what, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. It'll be our little secret. Glad you agree. Do you have a name?... Prefer not to say? Well, I suppose that's fair. I _did_ kidnap you, after all."

* * *

Hours later, he'd finally gotten them to Berlin and then he realized he had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he knew how to take care of a child, but he had basically kidnapped her. He had no idea about any medical issues he had to be aware of. He didn't even live in his own house. He couldn't raise a child in his brother's basement, though he doubted West would kick the child out. The paperwork alone would be a nightmare. She hadn't spoken to him yet, was she mute? He could work with it, but it would require even more paperwork. And then there was the psychological damage that could be done by abuse, that would last long after the physical had faded. He'd also have to feed her up.

Well, that was _one_ thing he could do. He set the girl down on a chair in the kitchen, in his clear view, with a blanket and an old stuffed animal he'd managed to dig up. The girl had yet to say a word to him, but she'd started looking at him, finally. She had wide, knowing green eyes that followed him everywhere.

He looked around in West's refrigerator, pulling some things out, before turning to the stove. He frowned as he examined it. Truthfully, he hadn't touched a stove in decades. Had they always looked so… strange?

Gilbert squared his shoulders. No strange-looking stove could defeat him, the mighty kingdom of Prussia! He used to be a pretty awesome cook, he'd do fine.

The stove seemed to disagree, deciding, _no, he would not do fine._

Instead he'd end up burning West's house down.

The fire spread in record time as he tried to figure out how to turn the stupid thing off, and then tried to put the fire out as the alarms blared at him. So much for cooking for the child, at this point she'd starve, or burn to death before eating anything. If he couldn't even do this right, how was he supposed to take care of her?!

And then, the door opened. His head whipped around as he tried to desperately think up an excuse to give West for being found in the midst of burning his house to the ground, when he saw instead the short italian. He watched as South Italy looked to him, to the child watching the fires curiously, with amusement at his predicament on her face, and then to the fire he'd mostly contained at this point. Gilbert was frozen, waiting for some reaction out of Lovino, likely involving a lot of yelling. This… this was even worse than if Germany had showed up! Could his day get any worse?

Only the yelling didn't come. Instead the nation mutely rolled up his sleeves and began to help him put out the fire, without even asking what the child was about. No doubt he could see what bad shape the little girl was in. Wait, would he think _Gilbert_ had done that?! Surely he knew Prussia well enough to know he wasn't a child-abuser. Did he? Surely he would have removed the little girl from the situation, or shot Gilbert, called the authorities, _something._ Not this whole mute thing he had going on. And what was with that? Italy Romano was always yelling. Why wasn't he now? Had he been possessed? Was that a thing?

Once the fire was out, Gilbert slowly backed away from the other nation, retreating to the girl who was watching them with interest. In a vain attempt to shield himself from Lovino's impending reaction- not that the awesome Prussia needed anything to shield him, least of all a young child- he picked the girl up and cradled her to his chest, making sure the blanket was firmly wrapped around her in the process.

Romano stared at him, still completely silent. It was unnerving. Gilbert's hand nervously fidgeted, which he disguised by running his fingers through the girl's red hair. Lovino's gaze finally broke away, only for a moment, as he turned his attention to the stove. With slow, deliberate movements the nation began to clean off the stove, threw out Gilbert's pitiful attempt at food, and began to prepare to cook himself. All the while Lovino threw looks Prussia's way. The silence was suffocating. His fidgeting turned to twitches under Romano's gaze.

Finally, Gilbert couldn't take it anymore, and began to babble, "Look, the fire was an accident! And, okay, I've done a few illegal things today but they were for a good cause! I didn't mean to kidnap her, but I couldn't just give her back to that unawesome man! I didn't know what else to do, and I did ask her where she wanted to go and she made it pretty clear she wasn't leaving me and I just wanted to get her fed, and maybe I'm a little out of practice with modern ovens… Alright, and I also may have gotten us back into the country in less than legal ways, and used West's money to do it, but I couldn't exactly take her through customs! I could probably talk my way out of it, but it would take longer! I know she's not one of my own, or even West's, but even if she is England's I couldn't not… help her. I mean…" Words failed him as he was met with the unimpressed, judgemental look from not only Romano, but the little girl in his arms too. It was frankly terrifying. Lesser men would have screeched like a girl, hidden under a table, and maybe cried for their mother while they were at it (not that he'd ever admit it, but Gilbert might have let out a squeak of fright).

He had a bad feeling that this scene before him was a forecast of what he would often see in his future.

At last, Lovino sighed, "It's a good thing you potato bastards keep the ingredients for pasta around for when my brother visits. We're going to have to do something about those clothes of hers, not to mention her wounds. I was a doctor for a few years not too long ago, I think I should be able to handle are you planning on raising her, since you aren't returning her to the proper authorities?"

"Uh… here, I guess? I hadn't really thought it through yet." Gilbert admitted, shifting from foot to foot. The girl in his arms was smiling a little at him, seeming to take joy out of his predicament. At least someone was getting amusement out of this.

"Of course you haven't." Lovino replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "You can't raise her in big and brawny's basement. You don't know what might be living down there, besides you, which is a whole other problem. I should have enough room in my own house, the one I don't share with Veneziano. You can come stay too. Even if you can't cook, you must be useful for something. I mean, you _are_ friends with Spain- then again, he's friends with the Frenchie… and he's only useful for very specific things, so perhaps the tomato bastard is not the best judge. Anyways, I'll help sort out the legal matters, but not for you. Just for the bambina."

Gilbert honestly had no idea how he was supposed to react. Romano still hadn't yelled at him. In fact he was being almost… nice? Maybe he really _was_ possessed.

"Stop staring. Sit her down somewhere, and go wash your hands. Get a washcloth and clean her up a bit, too. I won't be much longer." Lovino ordered, waving the spoon he was using for the sauce at Prussia to accentuate his words. Gilbert didn't dare disobey, too busy trying to make sense of this strange behavior.

Soon South Italy had set a small plate in front of the child, the pasta cut up into bite-sized pieces. As he did so, he asked in a soft voice, "So, bambina, will you tell me your name?"

"My name?" the girl answered to Gilbert's astonishment, "Aunt and Uncle always call me Freak. I think that's my name."

Prussia had to distract himself from how boiling _furious_ that made him, so he blurted, "So you'll talk to _him?!_ I've been talking to you this entire time, and you haven't said a word! I thought you were mute! What's so special about him? I'm the awesome one, and you're supposed to be _my_ awesome little bird henchman!" He gave an over-exaggerated pout.

"Shut up." Lovino said, his voice very obviously barely controlled. He returned his attention to the girl and added, "We'll think of a name for you when you've eaten. Freak is not a name." With that he turned and returned to his pots, quickly making two more plates and shoving one at Prussia. Gilbert just barely remembered his manners enough to give a quick thank-you.

"All this is for me?" the little girl asked, looking down at the plate with confusion.

Gilbert nodded, "Of course. Grouchy Romano never would have given it to you if he didn't mean for you to eat it." As Lovino glared at him, the girl looked between them both, before she shrugged and took a bite. Before long she was nearly inhaling it she was eating so fast.

"Slow down, you'll make yourself sick." Romano warned gently, reaching over to dab around her mouth with a towel.

As Prussia finished his own plate of pasta, he remarked with a smirk, "So I was thinking that a good name for my awesome new henchman would be Gil-girl. What do you think?"

"That's stupid. I won't have you cursing the bambina with a bad name. I'll be the one to name her." Lovino snapped to the girl's indifference. Lovino's expression turned contemplative as he thought over the matter, before finally he said, "Perhaps Sarita?"

"Nah. She's not a princess, she's an awesome knight-bird-henchman!" Gilbert retorted. Lovino shrugged and continued to think on it.

At last, Romano suggested, "Aella? What do you think?" he directed the question quite obviously to the little girl, who nodded vigorously before Prussia could argue against the idea.

* * *

 **Thank you for your time.**


	2. Chapter 2: Italy Romano

**Just to make things clear, the pairing will _not_ be fem! Harry X Greece. **

* * *

**Italy Romano**

It was a strange experience, letting Prussia into his personal home. Lovino was pretty secretive about this place- not even his fratello or Spain knew about it. The only one he'd ever told was Greece, but Greece was a completely different story, and he wasn't the type to force himself into every part of South Italy's life unlike everyone else. He wasn't completely sure what had possessed him to allow the loud, annoying older brother of the emotionally constipated blonde into his home. Maybe he was having an off day. Well, he always did have a soft spot for little kids, and Aella was the sweetest little thing with those big green eyes of hers. Besides, he didn't think it would be smart to separate Aella from the one person who she seemed to be extending tentative trust towards.

It wasn't like it was going to be a permanent solution, anyways. It was just until potato-for-brains figured something else out.

"The guest room is down the hall, to the right." Lovino said as he took off his coat, motioning to the hall with his hand, "You can put your things there. Just make sure you clean up after yourself. I'm not your maid." Romano hated cleaning, it never seemed to go right for him, so one of the quickest ways to make him truly angry was to mess up his house. He worked hard to keep it looking somewhat presentable.

Prussia nodded, quickly ducking into the other room to set down his things. As he did that, Lovino carefully carried the sleeping girl he'd set on the couch into Greece's usual room, gently tucking her in. He'd have to figure out a better solution later, but for now it would do. He was exhausted.

He rejoined Prussia in the main room, and said, "I don't know exactly how this will work quite yet. I'm too tired for too much more thinking. As I said, just clean up after yourself and _don't_ touch my kitchen." Gilbert winced at the reminder of his earlier stupidity. "You left a letter for your brother, right?"

"Yeah. Just told him I'd be bunking with you for a bit." Prussia replied casually. Romano could imagine the potato bastard's reaction to _that._ He'd probably worry if his brother was still living.

"So what were you doing over at West's house anyway?" Prussia asked after a length of silence.

Romano scowled, "I couldn't find my brother. I assumed he was spending time with yours and I was going to drag him back home. He always disappears off to who-knows-where. I should call that other friend of his… what was his name… Japan, right. Eh, I can just call tomorrow."

* * *

Tomorrow came, and Lovino did not call.

He woke up later than he usually did, though it was still quite early since he'd always been an early riser. Aella was still sleeping, so he started on coffee and breakfast, which seemed to lead Prussia into the room quickly enough, his little bird- Gilbird, wasn't it?- fluttering down onto Lovino's shoulder. Romano scowled at the yellow bird.

"I am not your perch." he remarked, but the bird didn't seem to care and Lovino wasn't going to throw the bird off, so he just resigned himself to his little companion as he shoved a cup of coffee at Prussia, saying, "Make yourself useful and go wake Aella."

"The awesome me will do as you ask!" Gilbert exclaimed, seeming to have regained his usual energy that had been lacking slightly from the night before. Romano only rolled his eyes. They'd have to go shopping, get Aella clothes and toys, and he'd have to start thinking what to do about rooms for everyone. He couldn't get rid of Greece's room, he'd made it so the other nation would have a nice place to retreat at need. But Aella needed her own room. Maybe he could have Gilbert move into Greece's room and move to the couch when Heracles visited? It wouldn't be a good permanent solution, but then again they shouldn't need one. Or perhaps Romano could move things around in his office and move Prussia there for the time being. For all of the ex-nation's oddities, Lovino didn't think he'd ruin all of his things in there. He'd been respectful enough when he'd visited the house Romano shared with Feliciano. Then he could convert the guest room that Gilbert was in right now into a room for Aella, stocked with an overabundance of toys because Romano was self-aware enough to realize anything she looked at with interest would be bought. He'd have to dip into his savings for sure. He wasn't sure how much money Prussia had access to since he was no longer a nation, but he'd mentioned he had some access to his brother's money and since he seemed to do some work in the potato bastard's government he had to have some sort of paycheck.

Prussia returned with Aella in tow, with a huge smile on his face as the shirt that the girl was wearing, probably one of Prussia's, brushed the ground as she toddled after him.

"Could you control your bird?" Romano asked, motioning to his unwanted companion (ignoring the fact that he'd fed the bird a little piece of food. Maybe birds were good taste-testers). As soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, the bird took flight and settled in Aella's hair. Her bright green eyes (they made Romano think of some unholy mix of Spain and England's shades) looked up with interest.

"Bird." Aella commented.

Prussia, with that damned soft smile of his that Romano had never known him capable of, kneeled down and said, "His name is Gilbird, and he's the awesomest bird in existence." Gilbird preened at that, as if he could understand his owner's words. Perhaps he could- bonds were known to exist between nations and animals that often gave the animals human-like intelligence, and sometimes more.

Aella smiled, and Romano melted. Just a little. She was adorable, okay? Prussia's smile widened, and he reached forward to ruffle her messy red curls.

Within a few minutes, they'd all settled down for breakfast at his dining room table, in a scene that was sickeningly domestic, and rather surreal given that the other one involved was Prussia. If someone had told him this would be his morning yesterday, he would have asked what asylum they'd wandered out of. It wasn't like he even knew Prussia all that well, they'd kind of existed just barely outside of each other's spheres for centuries. Young children had some sort of freaky magical power over adults, even him. You couldn't even be mad at them for it, not really.

Speaking of young children, how old was Aella? Romano stared at the fork in his hand, before his gaze slowly trailed up to Prussia.

"You wouldn't happen to know how old Aella is, would you?" Romano asked, fearing he knew the answer already. It was only confirmed when Prussia froze. It took several moments for him to recover, but by then Lovino had already continued, "Of course you don't. Why would you know information that would make my life easier?"

He turned to Aella, praying that the universe would finally cash in that lucky break he really deserved at this point for dealing with this colossal mess (seriously, a kidnapping? Why had he gotten involved?! Okay, fine, the girl was cute and it wasn't her fault Prussia was an idiot), "Aella, could you tell me how old you are?"

The girl appeared minorly distressed to have to pause in eating, but she still shrugged and said, "I'm not sure. I know Dudley is almost five, but Aunt says freaks don't get birthdays."

The fork in Romano's hand snapped, just as he heard the slam of Prussia's fork onto his plate hard enough to crack the porcelain. There was a long silence as both nations tried to reign in their anger, the only sounds being from Aella as she continued to eat as if she didn't know when her next meal would be.

At last, Prussia forced a smile, "Well, _I'm_ a freak, and I say freaks get birthdays, except theirs are awesomer than all the normal boring ones!" Aella's eyes went wide.

"You're a freak, too?" she said with wonder. There was something heartbreaking about this entire scene, Romano thought, biting the inside of his cheek.

Prussia nodded, "Of course. I've been a freak longer than you've been alive, so I'd say I know what I'm talking about." Romano abruptly stood up, drawing the eyes of both of his companions, Aella's wary and Prussia's surprised. Lovino had to force his gaze away from Aella. So many of her reactions were just making him angrier, but he knew anger would not help, not here. He'd rarely felt the need to hide his fury, making swallowing it back all the harder.

"Prussia, can I talk to you a moment?" Romano asked, forcing his voice into something resembling level.

Lovino stalked out of the room, gritting his teeth. He leaned against the counter, his hands clenching as he tried to regain control. He took a deep breath as Prussia appeared, hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes burning red.

"Sorry." Romano said absently, his eyes darting around for something to occupy his mind that would help to calm him. His fingers started drumming on the counter in an angry little beat. This was a time he half-wished he hadn't quit smoking.

As if voicing his thoughts, Prussia commented, "Damn, I need a smoke." Romano let out a bark of laughter at that. Understatement of the century.

Once Lovino felt a little calmer, he asked, "What information _do_ you know about her?" His voice was a little more confrontational than he'd meant, but that was nothing new. He always sounded confrontational.

"I know exactly where those charming relatives of hers live. Already told them to expect another visit from me." his smirk was more like a wolf showing teeth.

Romano jerked his head, "I don't care if you mind an extra, I'm coming." He leaned a little to the side, catching a glimpse of Aella occupied with her plate. He felt his anger drain for the most part, and he sighed. "Seriously, what do you know? I have to know what we're working with."

Prussia remained silent, his gaze flicking to the dining room, and then to the ceiling. "Not much, to tell you the truth. She was literally thrown out the window, and I caught her. Didn't stick around after that. Before that I caught a few seconds of yelling…" Prussia's voice turned to a hiss, "His hands were around her neck."

Lovino picked up the hideous little jar Feliciano had given him several Christmases ago and hurled it across the room, watching it shatter on his wall. Gilbert tapped him, before jerking his hand in the direction of the dining room as a reminder that Aella would have heard the shatter of glass.

"Fuck. Right." Romano said. He grabbed a bowl laying on the counter and went to go clean up the mess. Couldn't have shattered glass laying around with a little one in the house. As he went to pick up one of the bigger shards, he realized his hands were trembling. Mixed with his usual luck in cleaning things, it meant he ended up cutting his hand.

Lovino stared at the blood trickling down his wrist and just wanted to break down into tears.

"Hey, are you- no that's stupid, uh- Shit, do you need me to get you something, like a towel- or where are the bandages?" Prussia seemed rather off balanced as he gently took Romano's bleeding hand and inspected it.

"Yeah, under the sink." Romano answered, motioning towards the kitchen. This day was just not going his way. Granted, things didn't seem to like going his way too often. As Prussia went to fetch the first aid kit, Lovino just sat there, looking at the glass, and his hand, and thinking that Feliciano would be upset if he found out that he'd destroyed that stupid jar. It's not like Feliciano even knew where this house was, so he probably wouldn't. Probably. Anyways, it was an ugly jar. He was kind of relieved to have an excuse to get rid of the thing.

Prussia soon returned, quickly wrapping a bandage around the wound as Romano just stared. He didn't really know what else to do. He should probably keep cleaning up the glass. He reached to do that with his free hand, before Prussia smacked his hand away.

"No, you already injured yourself! I'll get it, go sit over there or something." Gilbert ordered with a vague gesture towards the couch.

"Don't tell me what to do." Romano answered half-heartedly as he got up to go sit on the couch. It was comfortable, and it wasn't like he really wanted to clean.

As Prussia carefully disposed of the glass, Lovino said, "I was thinking we should take her shopping today. But first I'll have to go get her some clothes, can't walk around in your shirt all day. I think I need a moment away either way, but do you think you'll be alright looking after Aella?"

"Of course. Me and the kid will be fine." Prussia replied.

Romano nodded, and stood. He grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone, but paused at the door to turn back to Gilbert, "Just don't touch my fucking stove."

Prussia gave a little half-smile, "I'm never living that one down."

* * *

 **Thank you for your time.**


	3. Chapter 3: Prussia

**We're back! Hello. Hopefully everyone is having a nice day, if not here's hoping this makes it a little brighter.**

* * *

 **Prussia**

Once Romano was out the door, Prussia heard a soft voice say, "He was angry at me, wasn't he?"

Gilbert turned to see Aella peeking hesitantly out the archway separating the two rooms, clinging onto the wall and ready to duck behind it at the slightest sign of danger.

"No, he's not angry with you." Gilbert replied, soft so as not to startle her.

"But he is angry. And you are too. What did… did I say something wrong?" Aella replied, too adult for her body.

Cautiously, Gilbert approached her, kneeling down to be at her level and less intimidating, "We are angry. But you didn't say anything wrong, and we are not angry with you."

Aella was silent for a long time, giving him a searching look that he thought peered into his soul. He waited quietly as she did, wondering what was on her mind.

"Then why are you angry?" she asked quietly, her eyes downcast. Aella seemed cautious about asking him questions, but the fact that she was willing to give him a chance and ask them anyway was more than he expected considering what he'd taken her from.

Gilbert took a deep breath, thinking out his response carefully. At last, he said, "We are angry because what your relatives did was wrong."

"Why?"

"Because no matter what, no one deserves to be treated as you were." Gilbert replied. She considered his words in silence. When she didn't say anything for several moments, only staring at him with her haunting green eyes as she clutched at the front of the shirt she wore, he smiled and asked, "Do you want to draw a picture for Romano? If we start now, we'll have a pretty picture to give him by the time he gets back."

When Aella nodded, he took her hand and led her to the coffee table. After a quick retrieval of a couple of pieces of paper and two pencils, they got to work. Prussia had no idea where any other art supplies were, or if Romano would be okay with him breaking into them, so the pencils would have to do for now. Aella seemed pleased enough with them anyways, spending a few moments just admiring them from every angle before cautiously putting one to paper, and seeming fascinated by the process of it leaving a mark. She even tried it against her finger a few times, causing Gilbert to stifle chuckles- not wanting to distract her. He was itching to pull out his phone and start taking pictures of her face… and after realizing there was no real reason _not_ to, did just that. She didn't spare him more than a curious glance upon him first pulling his phone out of his pocket before returning to her fascination with the pencil. She seemed to be more experimenting with what it could do than actually drawing- she'd spent nearly a whole five minutes playing around with the effect of the eraser. Prussia figured there was no harm in letting her figure it out herself however. If she started to seem frustrated he would step in, but until then he would just sit back and enjoy capturing her expressions- he figured Romano would appreciate the photos (and the short video he shot) at least, even if he didn't actually end up receiving a finished drawing.

By the time Romano arrived, a few bags on his arms, Aella had become fascinated with the different shape of the pencil tip that had flattened from use. Prussia looked up at Romano with a grin, motioning to the focused child, who had spared one glance to the door when it opened, but had then returned to inspecting the pencil.

Romano set the bags down, and approached the coffee table where the other two had set up shop. He leaned his hip against the couch as he watched Aella.

Aella finally put down the pencil, picking up the paper she'd used during her experimentation. Then she turned, and presented it to Romano.

"For you." she explained quietly. And Romano smiled.

Prussia had to stifle a squeal. This was just too much cuteness for him to handle. He would probably die if Gilbird decided to get in on the action, but the bird had taken up his perch on Gilbert's shoulder and appeared to be in no hurry to go anywhere else.

"Grazie. I have somethings for you here too, Aella," Prussia was still taken aback by the acknowledgement of how _gentle_ South Italy's voice could be when talking to the little girl. He felt Gilbird ruffle up his feathers to resituate them, as if he too was unsettled by the realization.

Aella didn't respond at first, her eyes huge in her face as Romano gently took the picture from her, holding it close to his chest for a moment before going to the kitchen and hanging it on the fridge with a magnet. He then walked over to the bags and started to pull out a few little dresses, "We'll get some more in the right sizes and that you get to help choose, but these should fit well enough for today and around the house. Why don't you pick one and try it on?"

She looked uncertainly between Romano's face and the dresses in front of her, sparing a nervous look over at Prussia as if expecting to be stopped at any moment, before gently reaching out and touching one of the dresses. Almost immediately her hand snatched back, a look of fright on her face as she quickly glanced up at Romano. With what Prussia thought seemed an unusual amount of patience for the normally short-tempered nation South Italy didn't say anything, simply letting her look with a neutral expression on his face. Slowly, warily, she reached out again to touch the sky-blue dress, running her hands gently over it, fascinated by the texture of the dress as she had been by the pencil, before asking in a small disbelieving voice that damn near broke Gilbert's heart, "Is this _really_ for _me_?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched Romano slowly- carefully broadcasting his movements, reach down and lift the dresses and then place them into still outstretched arms, "Of course Piccola, they are all just for you."

She only stared at the fabric in her arms with wonder, not seeming to be able to do much more for several long moments, until she burst out, "Is this what the sky feels like?"

"I don't know. We'll have to go see sometime." South Italy replied, another smile coming onto his face (how did she manage it?!) "How about you go get dressed, and then we're going to go out shopping to get you more things."

" _More?"_ she repeated, dumbfounded, "But- but, you already gave me this…"

Prussia nodded and proclaimed, "Of course! As my little henchman, you must be properly outfitted and geared!"When he caught Romano's eye roll, his smirk widened. "Go get changed so we can begin the mission."

As Aella went to do just that, Romano turned to Gilbert and said, "I couldn't guess her shoe size, so that will have to be our first stop."

"Until then I can just carry her." Prussia replied with a shrug. He knew from prior experience that she weighed less than she should, making it no trouble to carry her long distances with his strength. He wasn't quite sure how comfortable she was around others yet, either.

The girl soon returned, running her hands along the sleeves of the dress she'd been given. Prussia was impressed by how accurately Romano had managed to guess her size. Prussia would venture a guess that she had never had anything so well-fitting in her life.

"Are you ready then?" Gilbert asked. The girl nodded, not saying a word. Prussia only smiled and said, "Well, until we get you some shoes, I'm going to be carrying you. Is that alright?"

The girl nodded without hesitation. Gilbert scooped her up into his arms, and turned to Lovino. "So how are we getting there?"

"I thought we'd Step there, or at least to one of the bus stops in Naples. That way we can get there quicker, and we can still enjoy the ride and the scenery." Romano answered as he picked up his wallet once more.

Prussia frowned, glancing at the girl in his arms, "Are you sure you want to with the kid here?"

"I don't see why not." Lovino shrugged.

Gilbert smirked. He knew there had been more to the older Italian than had met the eye. Here he was, casually breaking rules! Why didn't he hang out with this guy more?

Oh, right. Spain would kill him if Prussia so much as looked to be considering pursuing his Italian.

"Alright, hold on." South Italy ordered. Prussia made sure the girl in his arms was secure before taking the offered hand and taking a step as Romano did.

As his foot touched down, their scenery changed completely. Instead of being in the front room of Lovino's home, they were on the side of a road. The sun was warm. Aella looked around curiously, but did not comment on their sudden teleportation quite yet.

Romano straightened his collared button-up, and before long was leading them through the city like only a nation on their land could, every so often pointing something out to Gilbert and Aella and giving them strange asides. Many of them included Spain, but one memorable tale brought in Greece, Turkey, and a mixture of cats and priceless ancient artifacts as weaponry. That particular story made Aella giggle a little, despite the wary glance she gave Gilbert as soon as she had caught herself.

On their way to purchase shoes for Aella, Gilbert was called twice by his brother. He ignored it both times. He imagined Ludwig had found the kitchen at this point, and was not looking forward to that. It wasn't that badly damaged, but West would have a fit. Really, it was for the best that Prussia gave him time to cool down before talking to him again. As a bonus, West couldn't hunt him down so well because Romano had an awesome hideout!

It did not take them long to find her plenty of shoes. Aella had seemed overwhelmed by the choices, so Prussia had ended up funding the purchase of more shoes than he'd ever bought in one go before. And he'd had to buy apology shoes for both Hungary and France before, at the same time! He had insisted on paying for them, since Romano had already spent money on her clothing and obviously planned to spend more. Gilbert still resolutely ignored his phone.

On their way to the next store, Aella now in shoes and thus walking on her own, Lovino's phone was the one to ring. He glared for a moment at the screen, then showed it to Gilbert. It read 'Potato Bastard'. Then Romano put the phone to his ear.

"What the hell do you want?" Romano demanded, in a tone much closer to his usual harshness.

Wait. Would Romano sell him out?

He heaved a sigh of relief as Lovino snipped, "Why would _I_ know where your brother is?! We're not even friends."

Okay, the way he said that one kind of hurt. It must have showed on his face, because Romano shot him a very judging look moments later. A moment later at a sudden touch, he jerked and looked down, only to see Aella had wrapped her arms around one of his legs.

That was adorable. Prussia couldn't help but let out a squeal, before Romano's hand slapped to his mouth to silence him.

Over the phone, Gilbert could hear the sharp, "What was that?" from his brother. Oh. He'd been a bit loud. But Aella was just so cute! Like Gilbird!

"A bunch of teenage girls squealing over this poor woman's child and trying to shatter my fucking eardrums." Romano lied as naturally as breathing. What?! He wasn't a teenage girl! He was the awesome Prussia! Since the hand was still over his mouth, thus silencing his protests, he gave the best silent one he could think of by licking Lovino's hand.

Romano, surprisingly, only shot him a glare that would have struck lesser men dead, his hand not moving in the slightest. He finished up his call, and then his hands went to his hips as he stared Gilbert down.

"That was disgusting." Lovino snapped, "I expect that kind of thing from man-children like Spain. Grow up. I have no idea where you've been, and what little I know is disturbing enough! Now I have to go dip my hand in bleach or something. And-" Romano suddenly fell silent, his eyes quickly snapping to Aella, who had let go of Prussia's leg. The girl was busy looking around at the nearby storefronts, and didn't seem bothered in the slightest by Romano's raised voice. Curious. She'd reacted earlier when they'd gotten angry, and they hadn't even raised their voices that time (then again, the snapped utensils might have given that one away).

They'd made it a good way down the road, before Gilbert noticed that Aella was no longer right beside him and nearly had a heart attack until he realized she had only strayed a little behind him. At first he thought it was just an accident, but after she repeatedly lagged behind he began to worry.

Romano's lips became a firm line as he turned to regard Aella after she had once more fallen behind. "Aella. Are you tired?"

She slowed to a stop a few paces away. Her eyes slid to the ground, and she shook her head. Aella tugged on a strand of wild red hair- a nervous tick, perhaps?

"Then why do you keep falling behind?" Lovino asked. She remained silent.

Romano and Prussia exchange a glance. Gilbert looked back to the silent girl. At last he smiled, and kneeled down in front of her.

"How about a ride on my shoulders?" he asked the girl. "Maybe you'll be able to see what the sky feels like." Her eyes widened, and she nodded eagerly. Gilbert scooped her up into his arms, and set her upon his shoulders. One hand grabbed at his hair, while the other reached up.

Gilbert met Lovino's gaze and explained, "Problem solved. Lead on."

* * *

 **She's adorable. Just saying.**


	4. Chapter 4: Prussia

**So um. Sorry about that wait. What was originally written for chapter 4 ended up being pushed back to chapter 5- which is almost done because of that.**

* * *

 **Prussia**

When Romano mentioned shopping for furniture and such to allow Aella to personalize her new bedroom, Prussia nearly wanted to groan aloud. Not that Naples wasn't nice or anything, but shopping got _boring._ There was a reason he tried to steer Spain and France away from the idea whenever they spent time together (combine France's love of shopping and Spain's tendency to get distracted and you were looking at hours upon _hours_ of endless walking and more bags than even the awesomeness that was Gilbert could carry).

But to Prussia's relief, he learned that they would be doing said shopping online, which was much more bearable. It was always great not to have to spend the day carrying bags, even if Romano had done most of the carrying two days before because of the precious cargo Prussia had towed on his shoulders.

The three of them gathered in Romano's office, the same room that Prussia had been camping out in (the couch that Lovino had in there was actually pretty comfortable). As Gilbert pulled up a chair, he noticed Aella hovering awkwardly beside them, looking around as if she didn't quite know where to put herself. Before he had a chance to do something about it, Romano motioned her over.

"Sit right here, Aella, so you can see." Romano said, patting his leg. He helped her up as Prussia got comfortable in his own chair.

He was honestly rather grateful that he had trained himself to be able to read Italian- well, he was a bit slow and missed a few things, but for the most part he knew what the words said as Lovino searched for furniture for a child.

"Do you have a favorite color?" Romano asked, looking down at Aella. She hesitated, seeming unsure, so Romano suggested instead, "If you can't decide, we can just look around and you can pick out the things you like, and we can go from there. Does that sound okay?"

At the prompting of Aella's nod, Lovino began to scroll through catalogues of furniture. Children's furniture had gotten seriously cool when Gilbert hadn't been looking. There were serious _race car beds._ Prussia almost wished to be that young again. Unfortunately, there were more perks to being an adult than a child as a nation. Didn't mean he couldn't be bitter that children's things hadn't been that fun in his own childhood.

It soon became clear that Aella wasn't choosing anything. She was watching the screen, but she said nothing. Something was upsetting her by the way she was tugging at her hair, her wide eyes, and her frown.

Romano seemed to realize the same as his hand left the computer mouse to gently rest on the top of her mass of curls. "What's wrong, _Patatina?"_

… Didn't that mean potato?

"There's so much." Aella whispered, "And I have lots now, too." She drew closer to Lovino without seeming to think about it.

Gilbert frowned. For a child who had never had things of their own, or the ability to choose what they wanted, he imagined that shopping must be a nightmare. He'd noticed when they'd been shopping in Naples that she seemed to have trouble narrowing down preferences. It should have occurred to him that shopping for furniture to decorate her room with would be difficult for her.

"Alright. How about we just worry about the things that we really need- bed, dresser and such- for now," Gilbert suggested. "We'll wait on everything we can." Lovino nodded, narrowing down the search to just beds, while Prussia once again inwardly cursed those horrid, monstrous _things_ that would dare do something like this to such a small child. The girl feared to speak up, to share opinions, to disagree, to make one wrong step, had never known what it was like to own much of anything to the point that she didn't even know what she liked- or at least not how to choose one thing over the other. Sure, some children suffered from indecision, but… would she have if raised by someone else? What would she have been?

He pushed that from his mind. She had the chance to be whatever she wanted, now. Gilbert would ensure no one could take the chance from her- and he was becoming increasingly certain he had an ally on that front in Italy Romano of all people. Strange. Here Prussia was, living in South Italy's house and shopping for a child they were at the moment raising together, when not so long ago they were just acquaintances. Sure, Prussia had never disliked Romano and had heard enough stories from Spain that he might be able to write a book, but they were Spain's stories; who knew how accurate they were in reality.

They began to look through endless pictures of beds for children. Romano slowly scrolled through, letting Aella scan the page.

Still, when gently prodded about it, she couldn't seem to make a choice. Her inability was only upsetting her. If there was one thing Gilbert couldn't stand, it was wide eyes and tears. He was moments from calling the whole thing off, but they did need to get her these things soon.

At last Lovino leaned back, wrapping his arms around Aella and saying, "It's okay, _patatina_. Don't worry. We'll take a short break on looking for things for you- you aren't the only one we need to shop for today, after all."

It took Prussia an unreasonably long time to realize what Lovino was implying. He stared back uncomprehending as Romano turned to him.

"Wait. What?"

"Tch." Lovino let out, rolling his eyes as he began to run a hand through Aella's hair. It seemed to be calming her. "You didn't seriously think I was going to make you keep sleeping on my couch, did you?" In fact, he kind of had, but this wasn't supposed to be permanent! Romano only seemed insulted by his telling silence. "Of course you fu- did. I'm not a barbarian! We're getting you a bed to put in the place of the couch while you stay here. You get to pick it out, just don't choose anything too ridiculous."

Gilbert blinked a few times while he comprehended that. As Lovino brought up a selection of bedsets and such, he began to scan the room consideringly. Red wood flooring, green rug, light green walls, dark red curtains… huh.

He reached over Aella and Romano to browse himself. It didn't take him long to find a simple white bed frame and a dark red bedspread that would look well enough in the room. It wasn't Prussian blue, sure, but it was awesome enough and not horribly expensive.

His own task done, they returned to searching for Aella's furniture again.

"That one."

Both of them were shocked she'd managed so quickly. Lovino had only just begun to scroll. Then Gilbert looked at the one she'd chosen.

Red. White bed frame.

Prussia exchanged a glance with Romano. "... Are you sure that's the one you want?" Aella nodded, something almost a smile on her features. The kid had actual race car beds available to her and she chooses what looks most like what he'd gotten. He wasn't sure whether to be flattered or exasperated. Maybe both?

Lovino just smirked and moved on to the next thing they needed. Wait. Had that been Lovino's master plan all along?!

* * *

Gilbert liked Romano's house. He really did. It was quiet and homey- not to mention it had room for Aella. He was grateful that he'd been offered a solution to the problem of housing Aella, at least temporarily, without going through the hassle of Germany's judgement on the matter. Germany would have wanted him to turn Aella into the proper authorities, and while it was probably the smarter idea he was too committed to the kid now. He couldn't go back on the trust she had extended to him of all people.

However, if there was one problem… it was quiet, but at night it was just _too_ quiet. Gilbert was used to sleeping with at least some form of noise, whether it be white noise or music. The office he slept in at the moment was stiflingly silent. He didn't like silence. He couldn't relax, much less actually sleep a full night.

At last, he tired of tossing and turning and just gave up on the matter entirely. He threw the twisted blanket over the back of the couch and stood, stretching out his muscles. Gilbert wasn't too sure what to do now- it wasn't his house, nor was he comfortable enough to go poking around too much- so he just wandered down the hall and into the main room. Gilbird fluttered up into his hair before closing his eyes again. When Gilbert couldn't sleep, the bird tended to try and stay up with him though it wasn't a very successful endeavor most of the time.

His footsteps seemed to echo too loudly, but at least it was _something._ The main room was dark, but he could see enough shadows to know where to walk as he paced back and forth.

Prussia wasn't pacing for too long when he heard a noise that wasn't his own footsteps. He froze. He couldn't see anyone- but hadn't he heard something?

He heard a few padding steps of bare feet. Prussia breathed a sigh of relief as he looked to the stairs leading to the second floor. The shape was too small for an adult intruder- it was Aella.

"Hey, _spatz,"_ Gilbert said with a smile, "What are you doing out of bed?" He walked over to a light switch and flicked it on. Aella's curls were in more of a disarray than usual. She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the light.

Aella twisted one of her red curls in a finger as the other rubbed her eyes. She didn't seem like she wanted to answer.

Gilbert knelt down in front of her, not too close but not too far. "What's wrong, huh?"

She yanked harder on the strand of hair she held and whispered, "Dream." Aella didn't meet his eyes as she spoke.

"You had a bad dream?" Gilbert concluded. His heart ached for her. He held his arms open in an invitation. She hesitated. "It's okay, Aella. You can come here."

Aella walked forward. She hesitated again before falling into his waiting arms. He gently wrapped his arms around her and ran a hand through her hair. He could feel the tears wetting his nightshirt, but she was silent. She held herself like she didn't quite know what to do with a hug- how to react to it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head. "Is there anything that would make you feel better, then?"

He could feel her shift. Her head was burrowed into his chest so he couldn't see her expression.

"Is that a yes? What is it you want? I could make you something to drink. Or I could read you a story- Ludwig used to like that. Oh, Ludwig's my brother, if you don't remember. It's his house I nearly burned down," said Gilbert.

Aella shifted again, and said, "I want- um… But he's asleep."

Oh. She wanted Lovino. Gilbert tightened his grip and felt a pang of hurt. Aella didn't want him, she wanted South Italy. She tentatively reached her arms around him in her best attempt at a returned hug.

But he kept his voice gentle and cheerful, "I'm sure Lovino won't mind if we wake him up." She instantly tensed. "I promise he won't be mad." Even if it was Italy Romano, who was known for irritation and anger over small things. Prussia thought he knew him well enough now to know that he was gentle and soft whenever Aella- or probably children in general- were concerned. Gilbert couldn't see the Lovino of these past few days being angry for being woken up to comfort Aella. Not when she wanted him specifically.

"Come on," Prussia said, lifting the girl in his arms and getting back to his feet. He took a moment to settle her before making his way to the door to Lovino's room. He adjusted his hold on Aella and knocked on the door. Gilbert heard a bump and a stream of italian curses from beyond the door and couldn't help but smile.

It took a few moments, but the door was opened. Despite the cursing, Lovino looked fairly neutral. At least he was dressed. Prussia hadn't considered that until seeing him. He'd had enough experiences with North Italy and heard enough grumblings from West to know that neither of the Italies made a habit of sleeping in much clothing- if any at all.

"What is it?" Lovino asked, one hand on the door.

Gilbert replied, "Aella had a nightmare and said she wanted you." He could feel her tense again and he began to gently rock her. It had worked to calm a younger Germany when he'd gotten anxious.

"Hm," Lovino hummed sleepily. "Come on in, then."

Prussia was uncomfortable as he followed the italian into the room. He hovered a few steps from the door as Romano turned on a lamp. Ahead of him he saw a closet and shoe rack. The bed and side tables were to his left. There was a door, presumably leading outside, and an archway leading to a bathroom. The room was warm, everything done in light woods and red.

Lovino sat down on the mattress and gave Gilbert a flat look. "Are you just going to stand there, or…?"

Prussia hesitated again but steeled his resolve and approached. He sat down, his shoulders tense. This was weird. It was uncomfortable enough to be in South Italy's bedroom, late at night- dim lights and everything. It wasn't like Romano was wearing much, even if he was thankfully clothed. Wait. Prussia wasn't wearing a shirt. It had been too hot and he'd taken it off when he was trying to sleep. There was a kid there, but still. This was just… weird. He wasn't sure how to conduct himself. South Italy wasn't acting like this was weird or uncomfortable at all. Honestly Gilbert wasn't sure if that was helpful or not.

Gilbert sat Aella down between them, unsure if it was because she'd wanted Lovino or if he wanted a shield. He sat in uncomfortable silence as Lovino stared at him. Was he staring at Gilbert's chest? He couldn't tell. Maybe he was just overreacting. That was probably it. But there was just this uncomfortable feeling in his spine. Any moment now Spain was going to charge in and kill him. He just knew it.

He took a deep breath. Child. This was for the kid.

Gilbert cleared his throat and tapped his fingers against the mattress, "Well. I should- I should go. Probably."

He stood up to make his escape but a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Please don't go!" He looked back at Aella as she yanked her hand back with wide eyes at her own audacity. Gilbert sighed and sat back down, but inside he felt warm. She wanted him too.

Lovino smirked at him and said, "Well, you heard the girl," with a shrug. Prussia looked away with a blush. This was so weird! What was he supposed to do! Was this just not weird for Lovino? It didn't really seem like it. Maybe he was tired enough that he didn't care?

Well, if Romano didn't care then Prussia could get a grip and act like everything was normal. And fine. Because this was for Aella. She needed them. He was there for her, not to be awkward and overthink everything as usual. Nothing was weird about comforting a child after a nightmare.

* * *

It was warm. He drew the warmth closer at let out a contented sigh.

"If you don't stop squishing me…"

Gilbert's eyes flew open and he threw himself back. He nearly fell backwards off the bed, but caught himself just in time. Oh. Oh. The warmth was Aella and Lovino. Shit. He was a cuddler when he slept. Why hadn't he thought of that?! Well, he didn't mind cuddling Aella, but it was just his luck that Lovino had gotten caught up in it.

Lovino rolled his eyes and hugged a sleepy Aella to his chest. At least the little girl looked happy.

"Sorry," Prussia grunted, rubbing his eyes with a hand.

"Whatever," Lovino replied, sitting up himself. He glanced from Gilbert and Aella, a blush beginning to stain his cheeks. At last he trained his gaze on Aella and added, "Go put on a shirt."

"Right." Gilbert was more than happy to escape. Immediately. And put on clothing. He fled from the room and down the hall to the office he was camped out in. He closed the door behind him and then screamed into his hands.

What even was his life. What was he supposed to do with this! Ack!

Okay, now he felt better. He shook his head and went for his bag of clothes. He'd get dressed and act normal. Because everything was fine! The only thing weird was how he was acting. He silently scolded himself to get over it as he pulled on a shirt and jeans. He yanked a brush through his hair and ducked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Afterwards he felt human and ready to pretend nothing had happened. He headed out into the main room, where Lovino and Aella were already waiting. Lovino had managed to get Aella dressed already (probably while Prussia had been screaming into his hands).

"So, what's the plan for the day?" Gilbert asked casually.

Lovino shrugged, "Well, I'm going to get dressed. Afterwards I have some work I need to catch up on. Why?"

Prussia smirked. "Well, you did see me shirtless. I figured I should have probably bought you dinner first, but I guess we can settle for afterwards."

Lovino coughed, but it sounded more like he was covering up a laugh. "Actually, since you slept in _my_ bed, I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be the other way around." Was that a smile? It was! Gilbert had to stop himself from doing a victory dance. "Then again, I have been making you dinner for the past few nights."

"... Touché."

* * *

 **Why are they all so _cute!_ Ah! **


	5. Chapter 5: Italy Romano

**Hey look! A quick update! Thankfully most of it was done so it didn't take long to finish up the last bit.**

* * *

 **Italy Romano**

He'd been tackling some work he'd been putting off in his office when his phone began to meow. He let out a chuckle and answered Greece's call.

"Pronto," Lovino said, leaning back in his seat and looking away from the papers and computer screen.

"Kali mera. You've disappeared off to the hideout," Greece said matter-of-factly, "I was wondering if you would like company, or if I should hold off my visit for a few days."

Romano sighed, a hand resting on his forehead. Normally, he would rarely say no. But there was a little one in the house, and not just a little one but one who had been abused. He didn't want to upset her. He wanted her to feel safe in his home, since this seemed like it would be her home for the foreseeable future.

However, Heracles was a calm personality, and knew how to approach this sort of situation. If it was only Greece, and everyone was properly informed of the situation, introducing Heracles to Aella might actually be helpful. Having someone who he could trust looking after Aella should he and Prussia be otherwise occupied- such as with those relatives of hers- would be wonderful.

After several moments of Lovino quietly thinking it over, Greece asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, not wrong." he huffed, making a decision. "I have some people staying at the house. One of them is… still a little leery of strangers. Let me clear it with them, to make sure it is okay."

"Oh. So you've taken in another stray?" Heracles replied with a hint of amusement.

Lovino let out another breath, and answered, "After a fashion. I'll call you back. Ciao." He hung up, and shoved his phone in his pocket. At least he had an excuse to look away from work for a moment… though he hated to leave things undone. He shook his head, muttering under his breath as he stood up and stretched.

He found Prussia and Aella in the main room, playing with a few of the toys they had bought for her. Prussia was animatedly acting out one of the dolls (the Awesome Fairy Princess, as Prussia had proclaimed in a high-pitched voice), causing Aella to smile. Prussia's little bird fluttered around, interacting with the toys as if he was aware of the game. Lovino brought a hand to his mouth to stifle a chuckle.

They both looked up as he entered, freezing mid-game. Gilbird settled in Aella's hair.

"Are you done?" Prussia asked, setting the doll down.

South Italy shook his head, "I got a call." He approached the pair of them, sitting down on the floor in front of Aella. "How would you feel if we had a visitor?"

"Who?" the girl asked with a tilt of her head.

"A friend of mine." Lovino replied, "If you don't want him to come, you can say no. I won't be angry. Neither will Gilbert."

Aella shrugged, and picked up her doll again, "Are they like you?"

Romano paused for a moment, unsure how to answer that… Was Greece like either of them? Not on the surface, but… "He's calmer than we are. He'll likely nap most of the time he's here. He also has a lot of cats, he'll probably bring one or two with him. Do you like cats?"

Her expression scrunched like she'd just bit a lemon, as Prussia asked, "Greece?" with an amused tone.

"Mrs. Figg has lots of cats," she finally spoke, "They always trip me."

"Heracles' cats are pretty intelligent. They won't trip you if they can avoid it. Most likely they'll stay with him- I once watched him walk into a meeting with one hanging from the front of his shirt."

"What?! Where was I when this was happening? Tell me someone got pictures!" Gilbert exclaimed.

As a matter of fact, he had. Not that anyone needed to know about those files… however, Prussia may have been onto something…

"Would you like to see a picture of my friend first? If you think he seems like someone you want to meet, you can talk to him on the phone, and then if you like him we can invite him over."

Gilbird fluttered to her shoulder, giving a soft peep of approval before he took up his recent hobby of trying to groom her hair. The bird seemed to have adopted her, treating her like his chick. Romano found it adorable- not that he would be telling the Prussian that. This whole venture was ruining his reputation- Prussia had seen him smile way too many times over the last week.

Aella bit her lip, setting down the doll again. "But what if he doesn't like me?"

"How could anyone not like you?!" Prussia demanded, "You're adorable. Besides, anyone who takes issue with my awesome henchmen must first go through me, the awesome Prussia- I mean, Gilbert." He gave an awkward cough while Lovino raised an eyebrow. Prussia was doing a _fantastic_ job of keeping the secret so far. Romano was waiting for him to realize that he was hopeless and just give it up. At this point, he would be surprised if she didn't realize there was something strange about them. Especially given that she had experienced what was basically teleportation when with them. But until she asked, it could remain unspoken.

"Would you like to see the picture?" Lovino asked, pulling a decent one up on his phone. Greece was napping in it, as usual, and he had a cat sprawled across his chest. Aella, with a glance back at Prussia, nodded hesitantly. He handed the phone to her.

She stared for several long moments. At last she hummed and handed the phone back. "He has a curl kinda like yours." Romano grimaced, feeling a blush spreading across his cheeks. He was not quite sure how to respond to that.

"She's right! He does!" Prussia crowed. "You two are secretly related, aren't you?"

He gave Prussia a flat look, "That's been common knowledge since we both lived with our mother."

As Prussia squawked over that, Aella asked, "So he's your brother?" Prussia's eyes went wider. Romano rolled his eyes. How was that a fucking surprise? They didn't look that different, and they both shared blood with Spain.

"Half-brother, at least." Lovino answered. He wasn't exactly sure, of course. He suspected they shared more ancestry than just the Byzantine Empire and whatever connection they both had to Rome, but he'd never asked for specifics, and Greece never offered them. Ancestry could be an uncomfortable subject.

She nodded, her face relaxing a little. "Okay. I'll talk to him, if he wants to talk to me." Aella still sounded uncertain.

"Well, I'm going to talk to him alone for a little. Once I'm done, I'll give you the phone and you can talk to him for as long as you want." Romano said, standing back up. She seemed indifferent. Aella picked up her doll again, and Gilbird flew from her shoulder to resume their game. He paused for a moment to watch as Prussia joined in the game again as well, before making his way back to his office.

He quickly called Greece back, and before long heard the sleepy voice say, "Kali mera."

"Ciao." he replied, a hand going to his hip as he began to pace his office as he often did during a phone call. "She wants to talk to you first. Do you mind? She only speaks English."

"No." Heracles said. He'd done similar things for Lovino's other 'strays' as he called them.

"Grazie." South Italy replied. He paused his pacing for a moment as he considered his next words. "She's a bit younger than my usual strays, but… it was bad. To be honest, she's not even really my stray, she's Prussia's."

He heard Greece hum a questioning, "Hm?"

"I should probably mention he's staying here as well." Romano grumbled, his free arm crossing over his chest.

"Oh?" Heracles said, "You seem rather pleased by that."

Romano abruptly froze in place for a moment. He blinked a few times, and then his feet resumed, "What? N- No, I'm not. It's irritating- I mean, he's not as bad a houseguest as I assumed, he at least cleans up after himself. Scarily well, actually, my house has never been this clean; it's kind of weird. Ju- we'll talk about this later, it's not the time."

"So we will be talking about it." Greece replied in his slightly mischievous tone.

"No we won't! We are _not_ talking about this. We are done." Lovino growled.

Heracles let out a hum of assent, and asked, "Is she aware of what we are?"

"No. Well, we aren't exactly hiding it from her, but we haven't explained it either." Romano answered, "So, human names for now."

"I guess I'll have to ask Prussia for his if she is okay with me visiting." Greece commented.

Romano asked, "Is there anything else you would like to know, or would you just like to go talk to her?"

There were several beats of silence before a reply. "Is there any topic I need to avoid?" South Italy considered it. They hadn't run into such subjects quite yet, really.

"Just avoid the word 'freak'. I might break something if nothing else." he sighed, "I know I don't have to tell you this, but watch the level of your voice. I mean, other than that, you're pretty good at reading when something makes someone uncomfortable. I'll go get the little one."

Heracles hummed acknowledgement as Lovino made his way back into the main room. He kneeled down and held the phone out for Aella.

"He wants to talk to you." Lovino informed her quietly. Aella's eyes widened. She glanced between him and Prussia, before cautiously reaching for the phone and slowly bringing it to her ear.

"H- Hello?" she asked in a small, frightened voice. Romano frowned, and prayed Greece would set her at ease.

After a pause, the girl said, "Uh, my name's… Aella."

Romano looked to Prussia, and jerked his head to the nearby dining room to indicate they should give her a little privacy. As Gilbert went to move, Aella's arm shot out and grabbed onto Prussia's shirt. Her eyes went wide, and she immediately dropped it, but the message was clear. Gilbert smiled at her and sat back down. He waved Romano on.

Lovino shook his head, grumbling under his breath. He made his way to his dining room and sat down. His fingers drummed against the table.

Hm. Should he really have done that? Now that he thought about it, while Prussia didn't seem to have any problems with her meeting Greece, Romano should have talked to him about it and gotten his approval first. Aella was, after all, Prussia's first and foremost. He grit his teeth, annoyed that he felt guilty over that. Lovino would just have to make sure he didn't do it again.

He stewed for a minute, until Gilbert sat down beside him. South Italy looked up as Prussia gave him a half-smile.

"Looks like things are going okay so far." Prussia said, "I left Gilbird with her. If there's any problems he'll come get us."

"Tch." he let out as his drumming fingers came to a stop. His eyes glanced around the room, as he inwardly debated with himself. It didn't take long for guilt to win out. "Sorry. About not asking you first." That was all Prussia was getting out of him.

Gilbert shook his head, "Oh. Nah, I'm okay with this. I just hope it doesn't go bad." He leaned back, glancing worriedly out into the living room before bringing his attention back to Lovino.

"The only problem was getting her to talk to him. Now that he's talking to her?" Lovino shook his head, "He'll win her over. He always does."

Prussia threw him a curious look, before commenting, "You seem to trust him."

Romano gave a jerky nod. "He's family, and he's always been there. Of course I trust him." He didn't trust many, but Greece was definitely someone he trusted without a doubt. He could probably count on one hand the people he trusted like that.

"Family doesn't always mean something to nations." Gilbert sighed, a little more red bleeding into his eyes. There was a story there, but Lovino didn't want to pry (even if he was a little curious).

"No. But Greece and I have an understanding, we look out for each other. I have no hesitation in claiming him as my brother." Did he sound too defensive there? He didn't mean to, but he'd had to defend his relationship with Greece to Veneziano one too many times.

"Eh." Prussia said with a shrug. He crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head back, "It's always nice to have someone you can call brother, blood or not."

Lovino let out a noise somewhere between a snort and a huff as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair to get more comfortable. He wasn't sure how long the conversation would go on. As he'd said, he wasn't nervous about Aella and Heracles, but it was somewhat uncomfortable to sit alone in silence with Prussia. The silence didn't last long before Gilbert was humming and absently tapping out a beat on his table. Romano watched him for want of anything else to do.

The movement of his fingers drew Lovino's attention to Gilbert's hands. They were strangely… graceful, for being the hands of a soldier who used to use one of those clumsy slap-sticks and even clumsier shields. Lovino had heard once, from Spain, that Prussia was a musician of some kind, but Romano didn't know what instrument he played. Maybe something with strings. Though a higher-ranged wind instrument wasn't hard to imagine, either. Romano himself could never really figure out most instruments. He dabbled in viola, but he'd never thought he was any good- not like Veneziano was with anything remotely artistic he touched.

Letting out a breath of air, Lovino glanced back to the main room, where Aella was. As he returned his gaze, he noticed Prussia doing the same. Now that he was really focused on Prussia's eyes, Romano found himself caught on the swirls of red and blue. Red was a nice color, really, and the blue managed to work really nicely with it; it wasn't like Romano was going to see eyes like that anywhere else. There was a sort of intensity to them, broadcasting emotions as clear as if Gilbert was speaking them.

He'd been staring for too long. Prussia caught his gaze, held it for a moment that stretched too long for Lovino's liking, and smirked. Face going red, Lovino scowled and turned away. Stupid face, blushing so easily. It was a nightmare. He blushed when he was angry, when he was happy, or any other time because his stupid face was annoying like that.

"So, hey, I was wondering," Gilbert began in a conversational tone, thankfully leaving Romano's staring uncommented on, "if, well, maybe I could just put on some, uh, white noise or something? In the room, when I sleep? I mean, would that bother you? It's just, well, Gilbird won't settle down when it's too quiet."

Romano let out a somewhat amused snort, "Figures. He is your bird." Prussia went still for a moment, before letting out a slightly late chuckle. Huh. Well, whatever. "Go ahead. Just don't make it too loud, okay?"

"Got it!" Prussia replied, a note of relief in his expression.

It was only a few moments later that South Italy noticed Aella toddling into the room, holding the phone out for him to take. Gilbird flew a few circles around her head before settling on Prussia's shoulder.

"Thank you." Romano said, accepting his phone. Then he smiled at her and asked, "So. What did you think of Heracles?"

Aella looked down, but he thought he saw something of a smile on her face as she replied, shyly, "He's nice."

"Does he have your seal of approval to visit, then?" Romano prodded with a smile of his own. Aella nodded decisively. Like everyone Romano had taken in before her, it seemed like Greece's own brand of quiet charm had won her over.

With one last glance over to Prussia, Lovino stood up and said, "I better share the news with him."

* * *

Romano could feel as Greece Stepped to his front door. He got up from his seat and went to open the door. Prussia and Aella both looked as he moved.

"He's here," Lovino offered as explanation before opening the door. Greece smiled at him as he stepped inside. A large cat was curled around his shoulders.

Greece approached Aella first and sat down in front of her. "Hello."

"Hi," said Aella shyly, pulling a curl in front of her face. Heracles smiled again before turning to Prussia, who sat at Aella's side like a loyal guard dog.

"Hello. I don't believe I've ever caught your name. I'm Heracles," said Greece as he offered a hand.

Gilbert smiled, "I'm Gilbert!" They shook hands.

Heracles looked back at Lovino as he set the bag slung over his shoulder to the side. "Am I taking the couch this time?"

"No, of course I didn't give away your room. It's still open," Romano replied, rolling his eyes. That room was Greece's.

Heracles hummed. Lovino looked at him and watched as he looked between Romano and Prussia. Then he raised an eyebrow. Oh. Oh! He couldn't possibly be- Oh, but he was!

"Heracles! No! It's not like that! Why would you even! No, nothing is going on! He's taking the office- stop reading into nothing!" Romano cried. He just knew his entire face was bright red. Greece tilted his head and hummed in acknowledgement.

Prussia glanced between them before snorting, "I mean, I was in your room a few nights ago."

"Shut up and go to your room, Gilbert! That was for the bambina and you know it!" Why were they both like this! He needed to stop introducing Greece to people! He was an enabler! And a menace!

Gilbert hissed out a laugh and high-fived Heracles before getting up and… actually going to his room? What.

Aella began to giggle, causing Romano to instantly forget all irritation. When she realized she'd been heard she abruptly stopped. Greece didn't bother to hide his laugh.

"I think they're funny, too," Heracles whispered to Aella. Romano suppressed a growl of irritation. What was this? Pick on the Italian day?

He supposed as long as the bambina was smiling he could live with that.

"Wait a minute!" came Prussia's shout from down the hall, "I'm an adult! I don't have to go to my room because you told me to!" With that Gilbert appeared from the hall and plopped down on the couch.

Romano raised an eyebrow. "Really? You are just _now_ realizing that?" Greece promptly lost it, laughing so hard the cat jumped down and began inspecting Lovino's living room. Aella let out another few giggles.

* * *

Romano decided he really needed to get at least a little more done. Honestly he wasn't going to get anywhere near the amount of work done as he had wanted to, but with a little more he would be able to dedicate at least a couple of days purely to Aella. There were perks that came with sharing a nation with your fratello- even if Veneziano's concentration and organizational skills were shit. Sure, Romano had to spend some extra time going over it- but still. It was helpful. Veneziano was better for meetings and the like anyway. He could actually make friends and pretend he liked you while insulting you and your mother. There was only so much bullshit Romano could take before he went crazy.

South Italy forced himself to focus for a little more than an hour before he gave up on the endeavor entirely. He wanted to know how Aella was doing with Heracles. Of course he was confident in Heracles' ability to charm her, but… Ugh. How was he ever going to get work done while Prussia was here with the bambina? She was small, and cute, and charming.

He really should be worried about how attached he was getting. This wasn't, after all, a permanent arrangement. For a kid who didn't seem keen to trust to want his comfort from a nightmare? She was attached. He was attached. Lovino massaged his temples and groaned. He always did this, but this kid had… nothing. Aella had no mother with her as was usually the case with his 'strays' as Heracles called them. What was going to happen when it came time for them to leave? How would she take the separation from one of the two people in the world she trusted- as far as he knew, at least. The way she acted, he doubted anyone had ever shown her much kindness.

Romano let out a long sigh as he stood up. He'd talk to Prussia about it, later. It was Prussia's problem anyway.

When he entered the living room, it was quiet. On one of the couches sat Greece with Aella curled up in his lap. Both were fast asleep.

* * *

 **According to a frantic google search, in Italy you would answer the phone with "Pronto"- ready to receive a message- and if you were the caller you would say "Ciao". We also checked phone etiquette for Greece. Yay for research.**

 **The close relationship between Romano and Greece will later be expanded upon. I will say that the basis comes from the fact that much of South Italy was ruled by the Byzantine Empire (including what the authors decided was originally Romano before he became South Italy)- meaning that Greece and Romano would have been under shared rule for a long time.**


End file.
